Voidman

Far, far in the future the world has cracked in to several parts, and is only being held together by a magical anomaly. A completely atheist society known as the Void Empire, that fanatically try and flush out any reminders of the previous world now rule the world of Voidrocks. Oim Sineleh, a rebel of the empire and a believer in the "Earthman" gods that the believers of our hunted down, now finds out a way to overthrow the Void Empire once and for all

WARNING: May contain strong language and mild sexual references

Written by Joseph Geran, Illustrated by Louis Geran, Helped by George Milton

Submitted:Sep 16, 2013
Reads: 5
Comments: 0
Likes: 1

Chapter 1: The Void

I had that dream again; I saw the creation of the void, the
magical anomaly that saved our world. The Earthmen predicted it
was the end when the planet fell apart, but are world was saved.
It's funny to think that everything I both love and hate comes
from the same thing. I think that a famous Earthman Hierophant
said something like that, the force that connects as all is
neither good nor bad, and everything is one. I used to love how I
could get lost in thought, drowns out the oppressive empire I
live in, the one that is somehow linked to "Glory" and "Justice".
I sat on the shit ridden streets of Heart City, the most
successful city in the whole of the Centreland, the Pandaemonium
of this hell spawned legion. I sat there, a mere beggar. Two well
dressed men of the Void Empire approached, wearing expensive
jewellery and monocles. One of them started looking at me like I
was some kind of extraplanar outsider.

"By the empire, what is this creature with purple eyes?"

"Fuck off!"

"I think it might be hostile, should we kill it?"

They both started laughing; the other one, who I could now tell
was much shorter, started joining in

"Why on the streets begging you pathetic little son of a bitch?"

I went along with the whole creature thing by growling viciously
at him. He cowered behind the taller one. I laughed at him

"Don't be afraid, I'm nothing important, just a Voidman."

They tall one started laughing, and then his smaller friend
joined in. "Silly beggar, Voidmen are just myths, like the gods."

I looked in to their eyes, and started to grin. I just wanted to
see their little polished fuckfaces go red with anger

"If the gods are such myths, then why do you worship the
Voidking?"

The taller one was shaking with anger, the shorter one just stood
at the front and said

"You must be mistaken, we don't worship the Voidking."

"Amen to that"

"Seriously, please just stop, my friend here wants to kill you
but I think that would lead to too much trouble."

"So mote it be."

The taller one turned round to his companion "Ysup, we should
just kill him, he's only a wisecrack beggar and nobody in the
Empire really cares about him, besides the Void King doesn't give
a tiny rat's arse if he's supposedly a Void Creature"

He nodded, and then red balls of psionic energy started forming
in front of them

"Shit!" I yelled before running for it. They started firing
psionic projectiles at me; it's a miracle that most people I come
across are terrible shots. After a while I decided that I
couldn't keep this up much longer. I jumped in to the void. I
waited just until they were off guard, this was the funny bit. I
flew back out of the void and stuck my middle fingers up at them
before doing the imperial salute backwards. They fell back and
started cowering back to their homes, shocked to see what is
supposedly false being proven true

Chapter 2: The Rebellion

Yes the lands far above the void are filled with metropolises,
but as above, so below. Down in the void itself is Tifsim city.
It has a long history which I quite frankly found fascinating.
The Void Creatures are monstrous looking creatures spawned from
the voids, which for many years have been hunted down by the Void
Empire. They created their own cave network which later expanded
in to a huge city for all those trying to escape the bloody
Voidking. The place is like a nirvana for Void creatures, but
very few Voidmen have felt in home, since we are part human we
never quite fit in with either of our kinds.

I love walking through the towns square of Tisfim city, it always
shows just how much the Void Creatures oppose the Void Empire.
There markets sell most items the Void Empire outlawed, in some
cases that's good, although not always. It's odd to see religious
organisations today, especially outside a legal drug dealer shop
and a brothel. I saw in the distance green banners with yellow
triangles on them. A familiar sign, it's the Rebel Flag and is
often held when another battalion has been lost to the Void
Empire. I support the rebel cause strongly, but I really think
they should learn that one cannot simply overthrow the Void
Empire.

I walked through the market for hours, until something caught my
eye. In the middle of the market place, there was a Void Floater
selling some kind of odd necklaces. I approached the store.

"Excuse me sir, what's that you've got there?"

"I believe they are Zonbi charms, they were part of rituals for
some of the Haitian Earthmen. Superstition has it that they can
raise the dead."

Fate is a Knight of Swords; it has a certain goal and will get
rid of all obstacles to get to it. On normal occasions I would
have thought not to trade for something that I don't immediately
need, but as fate insisted I did so

"I will trade you this automatic monocle I stole off of a wealthy
Imperial Citizen for one of them"

"We have a deal sir." We exchanged items before he started
meaninglessly wishing me a good day.

Surprisingly for me, buying that charm was not the most unusual
event that would happen today. A Void Floater messanger
approached me. "Excuse me sir, are you Oim Sineleh"

"Yes I am, Can I help you?"

"The Golden One predicted that you were able to help him with a
problem, he wishes to speak to you in the throne room of the
Golden Palace."

I was overwhelmed by that entire sentence, not only did I get to
meet the Golden One or he who is titled "The Oracle of Tifsim"
but I also got to go to the Golden Palace, the greatest rebel
fort known to man, that no Imperial Troop has ever entered. I
headed over there

The Golden Palace was overwhelming, a palace made of pure gold is
impressive enough, yet it was also double the size of the palace
of the Void King himself. All across the walls was text saying
"Know yourself". As I entered the palace, I realised just how
well secured this place was. I passed several hundred rebel
troops on the way in. As I entered the throne room, I noticed six
paintings on the wall, one of an angel, one of the sun, one of a
cloud, one of a tree, One of an apple, and one of a red rose. A
blind man dressed in monk like robes was sitting on the throne.
He talked slowly, obviously choosing his words "I sense your
there Oim. Have you come because I summoned you here?"

"Yes great Golden One, what do you wish?"

"I wish for a lot of things, be more specific."

"Ok, if I have to point this out, what I mean is what do you want
me to do?"

"I'm glad that you considered my proposal without even finding
out what it is, shows determination although ignorance, such is
common in the broken sphere, although the traits that I have
listed are something that rebels must learn to contradict quite
early on. Moving on from the topic of standards I expect from my
people, I want you to find The Void Crystal, a crystal created by
the void itself. A hundred years ago the Void King used it to
make himself immortal, as the crystal itself can make great
things happen, even a wall of gold cannot protect from such
powerful magic. You must obtain the crystal, and perhaps the
world will be at last, just and free"

"If it means stopping the Void Empire, I'm in."

"Before you go, I have a few items I would like to give to you,
they will be vital for the successful completion of your journey"
He passed me a bag of items

"Please Golden One, use your wisdom, and give me some advice."

"You never specified the exact amount of advice you wanted, a
common mistake people make as I could give you as little as I
possibly desire. Nevertheless I shall only give you one piece,
the most common advice I have given to each person to enter my
fortress is Look around you."

Chapter 3: The Empire

I stood in the middle of Tisfim, thinking, where do I possibly
find this crystal? Why did the golden one send me on a quest like
this? I decided to search through the bag of items that The
Golden One gave me. Inside was an expensive Void Imperial suit,
a wallet filled with Voidcoins and Void Citizen Identification,
and contact lenses to change eye colour. I searched even deeper
inside the bag and found a map of the Eternallands, with a circle
around Serpent Head City, the capital that gets stronger with
each rebellion.

The Eternallands were undoubtedly my favourite part of the Void
Empire, and although that is saying nothing, I still quite like
the place; it had beautiful country sides and hundreds of year's
worth of history. Serpent Head City on the other hand, I would
never believe that it is part of the same Voidrock, if even the
same world. Skyscrapers looked down on lesser buildings as
inferiors, Void Travelers polluted the streets, and worst of all
the same adverts running over and over again on giant screens. In
the first five minutes I had memorised "Blade of Avalon Virtual
Reality, which is the real world?" and "Rush Magnetic Boots, Why
do we walk?" The thing is that they would be very deep questions
if not so commercialised and meaningless. I realised that if I
were to find the Void Crystal then I would need to find a major
source of magic. I meditated for a few minutes before opening my
third eye. Searching around I found one major source of magic, a
small shop named "Technomancers." It stood out not only because
of the magical aura, but because it was one of the smallest
buildings in the cities. I headed in, the shop; it was quite an
unusual place even for a magic shop. All over the walls lied odd
devices as well as magical calculations. Manning the counter was
a short yet beautiful woman with pale skin and black hair.
"Can I help you sir?"

"Yes, um well."

For some odd reason I had forgotten the very purpose I had come
in here. After a while I suddenly remembered

"Yes, I'm looking for a magical crystal of extreme power, perhaps
almost as powerful as the void itself?"

She gave me the strangest look, as if I had made some kind of
unreasonable request, after a while she replied

"That is undoubtedly the weirdest question anyone has ever asked
me, but oddly enough, I did happen to have possession of a
crystal like that, but the local governor took possession of it.
I would suggest heading towards the City Hall and attending the
council meeting, you could potentially find out what has come of
the crystal?"

"Great, thanks"

I headed over to the city hall, when I saw a familiar face, even
though he was in disguise, he still seemed distinctive. I
initiated telepathy

Zebron Usned? Is that you?

Zebron was a Voidman Rebel Sergeant that I met during a rebellion
here in Serpent Head City, We became very good friends, but he
was given some kind of assignment by The Golden One, and I went
to live on the streets of Heart City

Don't say you're going to make me talk about how my life has
been, I hate that

Haven't changed a bit I see. What are you doing
here?

The Golden One assigned me as a spy, I work for the Hermes
Force in the City Hall, and I was just headed there

The Hermes Force?

Yes, the Void Empire force of messengers

Yeah I kind of got that, It's just I was thinking of how
a figure once considered so holy, would be used to describe
something so unholy.

Please, if you think that's bad then you probably didn't hear
that the Voidking named his governing party the Allah Council.
The Voidking takes any opportunity to take the piss out of any
Earthman Faiths he can. Oh yeah, you want any messages delivered
to the governor

Yeah, ask him where the Void Crystal is.

We went on our way to the City Hall, joking about old times. The
City Hall was the largest building in the whole of the city,
which was a lot to say. Inside there were purple flags of bloody
guillotines everywhere, and even some people holding up banners
of them.

What's with the flags?

Before the Voidking gained Immortality, he was going to be
executed in some crude chair device. The guillotine is supposed
to represent the barbarianism of the Earthmen

What a beautifully ordered mass of chaos we live
in

A man dressed in a tabard of the Empire stood at the front and
started chanting "No hope, no fate, no luck, is better than that
the Voidking brings" Everyone else responded at the same time
"Long Live our gracious King." A fairly tough looking man sitting
behind me looked at me and started rambling "Oi, Shitface, why
aren't you chanting along, you hate the Voidking or something?"

"Oh no sorry, I've just never been in a City Hall before."

"You think I'm gullible enough to believe that. How could you
have never set foot in a City Hall?"

"Well I spent half my life as a beggar"

"Why didn't you ask the City Hall for money?"

"Well I wanted to be self sufficient"

His face went bright red with anger, and he started clenching his
fists "Outside, after the council meeting!"

Fucking hell dude, you got yourself in enough shit saying the
self sufficient stuff; you're just digging yourself deeper. Have
you never heard the story of Bloodyglen?

No, please tell me

About fifty years ago, there was a village just outside the
Void Kings Palace. It is now referred to as Bloodyglen. There was
a very successful farmer there, who didn't need all his crops, so
he gave the beggars in his village enough food for them to
survive, if he still had some leftover he had a feast and invited
the entire village, and if he had any more left over he would
sell it. One day the Voidking offered to give the beggars enough
food, and claimed he didn't have to any more. The farmer told him
that he wanted the village to be self sufficient, and the man got
executed along with the beggars. Refusing help from the Voidking
or any of his governors is seen as a form of rebellion, In fact
there are books, plays, films and virtual realities portraying
the Voidking as a hero and Bloodyglen as a rebel village.

Chapter 4: The Six Paintings

The Council Meeting went on and on; the governor rambled about
the greatness of the Voidking, and got people to vote on minor
improvements to the city. Finally after about two hours he called
up the Hermes force, but he was not speaking to them in the way
you would expect. The Hermes Force and The Governor were speaking
in Binary, a language made up of entirely ones and zeros.

Hey, I found out where the crystal is, apparently some local
bandits robbed him on the way here.

After all this, the governor finally called off the meeting,
although it was far from over, as it seems that I was able to
unintentionally piss somebody off. The man sitting behind me
during the meeting stopped me outside "Oi, there you are
fuckface; I'll show you what the Void Empire is worth." He tried
to punch me, but I dodged out the way. That's the problem with
humans, there slow in both ways. He spent an hour trying to hit
me, until he collapsed from fatigue. Fanatics never learn do
they?

After walking for about five minutes, I happened to run in to the
woman from the shop

"Oh hey, you're that guy from my shop. I never got your name."

"I'm Oim"

"Im Enyel. Say, you want to get some drinks?"

"Sure."

"Ok then, I know just the place."

We went to a fairly quiet bar called The Choking Sheep. As we sat
down Enyel looked at my eyes and asked

"You know, I always thought the Voidmen were myths."

"What are you talking about?"

She smiled and started laughing. "I'm a mage, I know a Void
Creature when I see one."

We started drinking and talked for hours. After a while she paid
the bill before saying

"You know, I'm still curious about your Voidman nature, Oim.
There's one thing I wish to know more about."

"What's that?"

She started to smile and her eyebrows lowered. "I would quite
like to see the, full anatomy of a Voidman."

Chapter 5: Bandits

I skipped a long the city streets, a couple of people turned
round but generally overlooked it. I started hearing a voice in
my head again

You're in a good mood huh Oim? Get laid or something?

Yep, you know I think I really like her, I'm thinking of
starting something serious

Is she a human?

Yes, why?

Never start a serious relationship with a human, Humans are
enforcers of imperial power and haters of freedom, and we're
rebels we have to stay away from that

Look, your past is your past, humans treated you badly
but that is no reason to go around treating everyone like there
the same

Please, if you search this god damned world for a million
fucking years, you will never find a single good human!

There's a reason you're a sergeant and I'm not, because I
realise that hate isn't the most important thing.

I walked off. I don't know why but his hatred for all humans
really got to me.

I suddenly remembered my mission; I had to obtain the Void
Crystal. Apparently some bandits had possession of it. From
reading about Serpent City, I remembered that there was a whole
street known as Dragon Street which was completely overthrown by
a group of bandits known as The Mind Machine. They were lead by a
Psion known as Mrost, a man who covers his face so often that no
man has ever seen his true face and lived to tell the tale.
Seemed like I was going to be first. I headed to Dragon Street.
It seemed well defended, there were guard posts everywhere and
the whole street was made in to one large bandit fort. I, however
had one advantage, the whole fort was made of wood. I focused all
of my psionic energy in to a ball of fire, before launching it.
The flames roared, I could sense the sting of pain, fear and
burning. One bandit wearing a mask stood in front of me, shaking
his head.

"Pathetic! You think you can just destroy everything I worked
hard on? Since the dead are so good at keeping secrets, why don't
you see my true eyes?" He took of his mask, his eyes glowed
brightly purple. "This world always spat upon my kind, because we
were born half monsters the damned empire think they can treat
them like shit." A psionic sword of pure hatred formed in his
hand "Draw your weapon; I challenge you to a duel."

As he did that, I formed a blade of telekinetic energy, and
prepared to fight

The Clashing of swords went on for ages; we were equally as
skilled as each other. By the end he hit my sword so hard that it
fell out of my hand, before hitting my arm. I fell to the ground,
desperately trying to push myself back up. He spat on me "Think
back on your life, before the grand Coup De Grace."

I thought this was the end, until I heard the familiar voice of
an old friend "Hey psychic freak, absorb metal!"

Zebron started shooting at Mrost, but he could even dodge
bullets. The fight lasted until Mrost charged Zebron, looks like
he was going to finish off two competitors today. Or so I
thought. Enyel appeared above us, before shooting a bolt of
lightning at Mrost with some electronic wand and helping us to
our feet. I staggered over to the Bandits corpse, searching for
the crystal. A charismatic yet slightly intimidating voice came
from behind me, "Looking for something Oim?"

Behind me was a man covered in scars with brown hair and fully
red eyes. I looked at him and asked "Who are you?"

"Don't you recognise your own King?, we both know all about each
other. Me an immortal king, and you a thief, murderer, rebel and
beggar. I never wish to see you place another foot in my world. I
sentence you to execution."

My wounds started stinging like the seventh layer of hell, and I
fell to my knees. The Void King looked down upon me. "Are you
begging for mercy?"

I was going to insult his stupidity, but I realised perhaps I
should rely on my instincts. "Please, I beg you mighty king, you
know what it's like to be sentenced to death, please have mercy!"

His eyes turned from red to black, and he started cackling,
although deep inside I knew that the laughter was covering up
something grater. "You amuse me Voidman, for that I will spare
your meaningless life. You are sentenced to lifelong
imprisonment." He grabbed me telekinetically and dragged me away

Chapter 6: Keep your friends close...

Well the days are long, and the work is hard when your days are
spent in a Void Empire jail. The prisoners are mainly captured
rebels, but some priests of various faiths were scattered around.
The eventful day came when one of the guards undid my shackles
"Oim, the Void King claims that he has made a mistake and you are
innocent, you are free to get on with your life." I left the
prison, to find Enyel waiting for me. "How did you get me
released?"

"I believe Zebron was a spy infiltrating the Hermes Force. His
identification proved quite useful. Listen, I've also found out
that the Voidking is heading to the Royallands in a Void Traveler
to ask his advisor; Archmage Graug to prepare the crystal."

"Damn it! I'll never catch up with him by purely flying"

"Don't worry, I thought of that and purchased an Automatic Void
Traveler and reconstructed it with faster speed. If we hurry over
to the Voidport we can probably arrive a few minutes earlier than
the Void King"
"Great, let's go find Zebron and head off."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Zebron started declaring full out war
on Serpent Head city single handed, trying to fully take it over
and, he was shot down by a patrol of the City Guard. He's just
about to be cremated."

I took a moment to mourn him, before realising about the Zonbi
charm.

"Enyel!, You don't happen to know where they took my possessions
do you?"

"If you're talking about that Earthman necklace, then I have bad
news. It was taken to the annual Burning Festival."

Back in those days, they threw a celebration known as the Burning
Festival every year. It was when they found as many Earthman
artifacts as possible and burnt them. It was either great luck,
or something more than luck that it was being held in Serpent
Head city this year. I flew as fast as I could to the
celebration. In the previous years when the festivals were
thrown, several people had died so this year everyone was wearing
gas masks. It looked a bit ridiculous but I had no time to
disrespect their ignorance. The current pile was quite large,
although I didn't see the charm in there yet, but I thought I
should look anyway. Nobody was permitted to actually go through
the pile, nobody but the City Guard. I had a plan but I had to be
subtle, I created a telekinetic sword before killing a guardsman
in one of the most secluded posts. I took the gas mask and suit
before running over and searching the pile. The whole thing was
being broadcasted over to the whole world. The presenter was
commentating, I overheard him saying, "And now, before we start
the fire I throw in my contribution, a Zonbi charm stolen from a
rebel." He was about to throw my charm in to the fire, but I
telekinetically pulled it towards me and flew to the crematorium.
They were just about to cremate him when I yelled "STOP!" I was
about to place the necklace on him when I realised, that would
help nothing. I turned to Enyel, "I think you should place the
necklace on him."

"Why?"

"Zebron actively opposed all humans, because he had problems with
them in past. If I place the necklace on him, he will spend the
rest of his life thinking that all humans are evil."

Enyel nodded before placing the necklace around Zebron's neck.
His eyes started to open, and he muttered "You saved me human?".
He staggered to his feet and came over to me, "Oim, you were
right all along, not all humans are the same. I should have
listened to you from the start, and for that reason, you give the
orders from now on. If you want me to kill I will, if you don't
then I won't."

Chapter 7...And your enemies closer

I woke up in a bed placed in the Void Traveller, Enyel laid there
next to me. She seemed to notice I was awake. I asked her "Enyel,
why did you save me from the Void Empire Jail?"

"Because Oim, I love you"

"I love you too."

Just as that was said, the Void Traveler alarm went off and there
was a crash. We ran to the front of the traveller, only to find
that some kind of Void storm was pulling us in. Enyel tried
steering the ship "The storms too strong. I made a storm removing
magical device earlier, but it hasn't been fully tested and could
go wrong, what do you think Oim?"

That being said, I suddenly had an epiphany, it took me a
lifetime to realise. "Leave it, I know another way."

Zebron looked at me, shocked but deep down seemed trusting at the
same time, "Oim, Good luck and I hope your plan works."

I ran in to the other room. My entire life I shunned the Void
Empire for their treatment of the Earthmen faiths, but the one
thing I never did was prayed to the forgotten gods. I looked up
then down. "I don't know who is causing this storm, I don't care
what deity you are, but please I have realised what I must do, so
please spare my life and I promise to try and create a utopia
where the gods can be free" The alarm stopped, Enyel ran in "I'm
not sure what you did but not only did you stop the storm, but
were here!" I looked out the window, the Royallands. That was the
good news, the bad news was that outside at the Voidport, the
Voidking was speaking to some archmage like figure. We all ran
over to him. I yelled "Stop!"

"Or what, Voidman?"

Zebron spat on the ground "We could kill you any day mighty King,
you're not so tough!"

A telekinetic force lifted us up, the Voidking bit his thumb,
"Pathetic rebels, I could easily finish you, or I could torture
you to death. Either way my people would love me for it."

I knew what I had to do here, "Listen, I understand why you would
want to kill us."

The Voidkings eyes turned from red to white, he started laughing
and this time genuinely. "You are quite funny Oim, nobody can
understand me, what I've seen, what I've been through."

I nodded "That's why I understand you. All my life people of the
Void Empire have spat upon my kind, and therefore I grew hateful
of them. Sometimes hate takes over your life, makes you blind to
all other things. I'm guessing you were spat upon by the Earthmen
similarly, which is why you object to everything they did. Kill
us if you want, I feel no more hate towards you, I only now feel
sorry for you."

The Voidkings eyes turned black again, and a tear fell from his
eye, he suddenly seemed a lot more living. He let us to the
ground "You're right Voidman, all my life people have followed me
as a king, but the only thing I truly wanted was for people to
understand me, the hatred that I felt, the suffering I went
through" He gave me the crystal, "I want you to have this, I know
you will use it most wisely. Use telepathy on the crystal, tell
it what you want." I thought of a million things I wanted, the
seven sins themselves crossed my mind as I gazed in to the
crystal. I suddenly realised, that for the future to be forever
bright, there was one thing I should wish for. I made my wish.
The crystal smashed, and beneath the ground I could hear the
sound of more crystals breaking, the Voidkings eyes turned back
to normal, and he started aging quickly. His eyes were bright
blue. He looked at me, "My name in my past life was Qowcius,
though it's been a century since anyone called me that." He
started crying "You truly are much wiser than I ever was Voidman,
when I die, I want you to take place as the new king, you are
wise enough to lead my empire." As he said that he passed away. I
shut his eyes for him, "I can't rule your empire Qowcius, people
need to learn to live without a king, and soon society will
reform itself."